Stuart Pearce shares West Ham United frustrations with Declan Rice after Jim White raged
Jim White was “raging” about West Ham star Declan Rice during England’s win over Wales at the World Cup, according to Simon Jordan.
The Hammers captain started again as Gareth Southgate’s side booked their place in the knockout stages with a 3-0 victory over their neighbours on Tuesday night (29 November), but White was apparently upset with a lack of positivity from the midfielder.
And former West Ham coach Stuart Pearce has admitted he shares some of the same frustrations with the 23-year-old from their time together at the London Stadium.
Speaking live on talkSPORT on Wednesday morning (30 November, 10.14am) Jordan said: “Jim was raging about Rice last night, thinking that Rice’s default setting is to go back. Get the ball, turn back, go back. Nothing going forward.
“Is that the job he’s being asked to do it is he going in to a ridiculous extreme of not being the player that we’d like him to be?”
Pearce answered: “In all honesty I’ve half had those frustrations with him at club level, because I think he’s got so much more in his locker.”
“Yes! There you go,” White cut in.
Pearce then added: “He’s got a brilliant range of passing. When I talk about getting teams turned he is in a key position to get us turned and go forward, with diagonal passes or forward passes through the lines.
“He’s got a great range of passing, I’ve seen it first-hand for two years.”
Expansive
The first half of the England victory was similar to the drab goalless draw against the USA so White wouldn’t have been the only person frustrated with what he saw.
And with Rice not quite hitting his usual high levels so far with the Irons this year, plenty of the club’s fans may also feel the same.
West Ham and England are far from the only sides whose supporters would like to see more attack-minded play from, but so much coaching focuses on keeping possession rather than doing much with it.
Rice is already a Premier League stand out and an international regular so if there is that much more to him than we are already seeing then encouraging him to become more expansive would make him an even bigger star.
Plenty of people try to point the finger at Southgate for his lack of adventure in charge of England, so it was surprising for Pearce to give an honest assessment of his own misgivings about the West Ham captain holding back.
Hal Robson-Kanu suggested he has to move to a big club for that side of his game to come out more, which is a depressing thought for Hammers fans, but if David Moyes can draw it out of him while he is still at the club it is bound to benefit the team.